The present invention relates to a tacker for driving fasteners into an object, said tacker being optionally usable either for driving in fasteners in the form of essentially U-shaped staples or for driving in fasteners in the form of nails, said tacker having a driver which is adapted to eject, in an ejecting motion, a fastener fed to an ejecting position in the tacker and drive it into the object.
A tacker of this type can be used both for driving in staples and for driving in nails into an object. In the first case, the magazine of the tacker contains a row of staples, and in the second case its magazine contains a row of nails. The field of application of the tacker is changed by replacing the row of staples with a row of nails and vice versa.
A prior-art tacker of the type described above will now be described with reference to FIG. 1, which most schematically illustrates a portion of this tacker. The tacker has a magazine 1, which contains essentially U-shaped staples 2. The web portion or back of the staples 2 extends between the side walls 1a of the magazine 1, and their legs extend along the respective side walls 1a. The staples 2 are arranged side by side and are releasably connected to each other. The staples 2 are fed in their transverse direction along the magazine 1. The staple which in the feeding direction is the foremost staple and which is in the ejecting position, rests against a front plate 3. A driver (not shown), which has the form of a plate whose thickness is the same as the width of the staples 2, i.e. their extent in the feeding direction, is adapted to strike in its ejecting motion the web portion of the foremost staple 2 in order to release this staple from the others and eject it from the tacker.
When the tacker is to be used for driving in nails 4 instead of staples 2, the row of staples is replaced by a row of nails containing successively arranged nails 4, which are releasably connected to each other. The row of nails is positioned close to one magazine wall 1a. The nails 4 are fed in the same manner as the staples 2 along the magazine 1.
For reasons of illustration, FIG. 1 shows both staples 2 and nails 4, but it will be appreciated that the tacker contains either staples 2 or nails 4.
The nails 4 have in the shown example a somewhat greater width than the staples 2. The nail 4 which is the foremost nail in the feeding direction and which is in the ejecting position, is inserted into a groove 5 formed in the front plate 3 and rests against the bottom of the groove. In this position, the back of the foremost nail 4 is on a level with or slightly behind the plane in which the back of the foremost staple 2 is located when the staple rests against the front plate 3. In this position, the groove 5 prevents the nail 4 from tilting laterally towards the centre of the magazine 1. The magazine wall 1a prevents lateral tilting in the opposite direction. The driver strikes in its ejecting motion the head of the foremost nail 4 in order to release this nail from the others and eject it from the tacker.
Another prior-art tacker of the type stated by way of introduction will now be described with reference to FIG. 2 which most schematically shows a portion of this tacker. Equivalent components in FIGS. 1 and 2 have the same reference numerals. The tacker according to FIG. 2 differs from the tacker shown in FIG. 1 on the one hand by being intended for wider staples 2 which in this case are of the same width as the nails 4 and, on the other hand, by the front plate 3 not having the groove 5. If the tacker according to FIG. 2 had such a groove, the back of the foremost nail 4 abutting against the bottom of the groove and, thus, also the front of the next nail would be located in front of the plane in which the back of the foremost staple 2 is located when the staple rests against the front plate 3. This would mean that also the next nail would be struck by the driver, whose thickness is here the same as the width of the wider staple 2. Of course, this would cause a fault in the tacker. A problem of the tacker shown in FIG. 2 is that the nail 4 in the ejecting position, especially when it is the last nail in the row of nails in the magazine 1, may tilt laterally towards the centre of the magazine 1.
The object of the present invention is to provide a tacker, in which this problem is obviated.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved with a tacker, which is of the type stated by way of introduction and further has at least one catch, which is adapted to prevent a nail fed to the ejecting position from tilting to an inclined position, which significantly deviates from the direction of ejecting/driving in, and which is movable between a first position, in which it extends into the path of the ejecting motion of the driver, and a second position, in which it is moved away from this path against spring action, said tacker being characterised in that each catch is formed on a tongue which is bent to L shape and punched in a first plate and whose one L leg extends perpendicular to the plane of the plate and forms the catch and whose other L leg is positioned in the plane of the plate and forms a part supporting the catch in a resiliently yielding manner, said one L leg of the tongue having a ramp surface for such cooperation with the driver that the catch is moved away against spring action to its second position by the driver during the ejecting motion thereof when the tacker is used for driving in nails, and by the web portion of a staple that is being ejected when the tacker is used for driving in essentially U-shaped staples.
The tacker preferably has two essentially identical, separate catches which are successively arranged in the ejecting direction of the driver.
The first plate suitably is a piece of sheet metal.
A second plate is preferably arranged as a front support for the fastener which is located in the ejecting position, the first plate engaging the side of the second plate facing away from the fastener, and each catch extending into the path of the ejecting motion of the driver via a hole in the second plate. The second plate suitably is a piece of sheet metal.